


Breathing

by sternenblumen



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aspiration, Concussions, Gen, I continue to be mean to my favourite(s), Post-Episode: s02e09 The Gate, Vomiting, injuries, respiratory arrest, yes it's another aftermath fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 19:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14940249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternenblumen/pseuds/sternenblumen
Summary: It had been a brief moment of panic, and then Dustin had said he was okay. And he had forgotten about it. There was so much to worry about, El, Will, even Steve. It had simply slipped his mind. But Dustin had said he was okay, right? Right?!The aftermath after the Gate closed.





	Breathing

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, it's another aftermath fic! I do hope I managed to bring something new to the table with it - something most aftermath fics skipped over.
> 
> Many thanks to my beta shapeyoursmile@tumblr.com, also for her medical advice!
> 
> If you liked it, please leave kudos and/or comments, they make writers happy :).

After the lights have died down, they pile back into the car. Steve is driving, slow and slightly shaky, but it's a considerable improvement over how they got to the pumpkin patch, even if Max is complaining most of the way that she could do better now that he's not distracting her. Mike hardly listens, his mind buzzing with his worry for El and Will. The way the headlights had brightened is making him hopeful but there were a lot of demodogs rushing towards her and Hopper, and there's no telling how things went for Will and his family …

When they get to the Byers house, Jonathan's car is parked in front, and the door is open. Steve has barely stopped the car when Nancy comes flying out of the house, frantic. “Mike! Steve!” Dustin is first out of the car, having ridden shotgun, and catches her hands, stopping her. “They're okay, Nancy, we're all okay,” he assures her with a bright grin. “How's Will? How're you?”

Nancy lets him stop her but her eyes are still roving over the unfamiliar car and the kids clambering out of it. “Will is okay but – where the hell have you been? Whose car – isn't that the car of that new guy, Billy?” Mike finally makes it out of the car, and she frees herself from Dustin's grip to rush over to him and envelop him in a hug. He freezes for a moment but then brings his hands up to hug her back. “We drove to the pumpkin patch to make a distraction for El,” he explains.

“Is Billy still here?” Max asks, and there is a definite edge of nervousness to her voice, despite the bravado she had displayed earlier.

Jonathan has followed Nancy out, if a bit more slowly, and he shakes his head at Max' question as he also takes in the bedraggled teens assembling before them on the front lawn. “There was no one here – especially not you guys! What were you thinking?” he demands, and Mike glares at him over Nancy's shoulder. “We couldn't just sit around and wait. We had to help!” he insisted.

Nancy releases him from her embrace, holding him at arm's length by his upper arms and glaring at him. “We'll talk about that,” she says, and he suppresses an eye roll. “Anyway, get in there,” she continues but is interrupted by Jonathan who says, “Steve?!”, and they all wheel around as if they had forgotten that he was supposed to be there, too.

Steve is still standing on the other side of the Camaro, at the open driver's side door, but standing might be too generous a term – he's gripping the edge of the door tightly and leaning against it as if it's all that's keeping him upright. “I'm just – I'm just dizzy,” he says blearily, waving one hand.

Nancy is at his side in a flash, and Mike is left feeling both relieved and strangely disappointed that she's no longer concentrating on him. “What happened?” she asks, her hands hovering worriedly at the sides of Steve's swollen, bruised face, and Dustin and Lucas launch into telling her and Jonathan about Billy and Steve's fight and Max's rescue. Mike doesn't join in, too – instead, he glances at Steve, wondering how it happened that he's now worrying about him when a few days ago, he was just Nancy's annoying boyfriend. Seeing him defend one of his friends and saving his life down in the tunnels might have something to do with that, he supposes.

Jonathan circles the car and pulls Steve's arm over his shoulder. “Let's get you inside,” he says, ignoring Steve's protests. “You might have a concussion, and you shouldn't have been driving and doing … whatever you've been doing.” He sends a glare at the kids, and Mike ducks his head sheepishly. Well, he had advocated for leaving him here! Though, given that Billy had obviously woken up before Nancy and the Byers had come back, that could have turned out not all that well for Steve, too …

Nancy ushers them inside, followed by Jonathan and Steve (still protesting). Inside, Mrs. Byers is sitting with Will who's half propped up against the couch cushions and looks exhausted and sweaty but _awake_ and _like himself_ , and Mike feels a big weight lift from him. “Will!” he calls, and Lucas and Dustin do, too, as they rush over to him, and he gives them a shaky smile. “Hey.” 

Mrs. Byers' relief is evident in her tone as she greets them, too, though it's short-lived when she sees Jonathan helping Steve inside, and she quickly snaps into Mom mode. Steve might need a nurse, not a mom, but they don't have that, so it'll have to do. She leads him to a seat and starts checking out his injuries, with Nancy hovering close by worriedly. Mike drops down on the couch next to Will, and Dustin and Lucas sit down in front of him. He notices Max hovering near the door, and he's feeling pretty magnanimous right now, so he waves her over to come join the circle of friends.

Still, there is tension in him he can't shake, so his eyes wander back to the door immediately. Where are Hopper and El? Are they okay? What is taking them so long?! The others are talking but he can't concentrate on what they are saying, becoming more anxious by the minute.

At one point, Will places a hand on his arm, and when he turns to look at him, his friend gives him a soft smile. “They're okay, Mike. El is okay,” he tells him, and something about how Will says it keeps the usual stubborn rebellious skepticism in Mike from welling up. _True sight_ , something in him whispers, and he wonders if that's it, if Will really can know and see more now, or if there is some kind of bond established between Will and El ever since she could see and speak to him in the Upside-Down. Or maybe he just can trust in the conviction in Will's voice because he knows they are survivors, both of them. He doesn't know how they do it – God, he barely survived the last year, and all he had to do was live with losing her. They're idle thoughts but they're better to think about than his anxiety, and he manages to not let his gaze be drawn back to the door but look around the room for a bit. Nancy looks at him over Steve's head who sits slumped against her while Mrs. Byers is cleaning his face with some cotton balls. He meets his sister's eyes, and her face is harried with worry and everything that happened today, but she smiles through it at him for a moment, and it's good.

And finally, _finally_ , there's the sound of a car pulling up outside, doors slamming, and he's on his feet when the door opens and Hopper and Eleven come in. She's alive and walking, even if Hopper is supporting her with an arm around her shoulders and her face is pale and streaked with blood. Mike rushes towards her, taking her hand. “El, are you okay? You really did it?”

She just nods, giving him her small smile, and he feels relief rush through his body, leaving him almost lightheaded. He pulls her towards himself, and Hopper lets go of her surprisingly easily so he can help her over to the couch. Dustin and Lucas greet her boisterously, Will slightly less so, but he smiles at her as Mike gets her situated next to him. Max looks wary, an outsider in the group again, and he thinks that they really need to talk because she did drive a car for them today and went into the tunnels with them, and Lucas really likes her, and Dustin, too, and maybe they could use a Zoomer in the group after all, even if it's a stupid made-up class that doesn't exist. But not today. Tomorrow.

Mrs. Byers is coming over to greet Hopper, and they talk quietly – Mike doesn't pay attention until Hopper walks over to Steve and pulls him to his feet and Dustin perks up. “Hey! What's going on?” he asks.

“He needs to go to the hospital,” Hopper replies brusquely, and Dustin immediately jumps up. “I'm coming, too!”

The Chief shakes his head. “No, you're not.” He glowers at Dustin who shrinks a bit from his gaze but then visibly steels himself. “Yes, I am!”

Mrs. Byers intervenes, putting a soft hand on Dustin's shoulder. “Sweetheart, it's better when you stay here – we're all exhausted, you need to get some rest, and Hopper will take good care of him, I promise.”

Steve stops Hopper's forward progress and reaches out a hand to Dustin, giving him a slightly painful smile. “It's okay, bud,” he says. “I'll be back in no time, you'll see.”

“But--” Dustin tries to protest again but then deflates. He steps up to Steve and hugs him tightly, and Steve puts his hand on Dustin's head in a gesture that looks surprisingly caring. Mike really doesn't know where all of that is coming from but he's too tired to figure it out. So Dustin is now friends with Steve Harrington, why not.

“I'm coming with you,” Nancy speaks up in that moment, and both Steve and Hopper start at that, turning to her. “You need to concentrate on the road, so you'll need someone to keep an eye on him during the drive,” she tells Hopper, and there is steel in her eyes as they meet his. Steve starts to protest but she cuts him off. “No, Steve, please. Let me just-- Let me take care of you. We'll figure the rest out in the morning.” Her face is softer when she turns her gaze from Hopper to him but there's just as much unbending obstinacy in it.

Hopper sighs and waves a hand. “Whatever, then come,” he says, and Steve doesn't seem to have it in him to do much more arguing, either. Nancy rushes over to Mike and gives him a quick hug – wow, they have been hugging a lot more in the last couple of hours than all of last year, he thinks stupidly – and then hugs Jonathan, too. “Take care of Mike for me, please?” he hears her say to Will's brother, and he feels a bit of annoyance in response to that because he doesn't need anyone to take care of him, they're safe now, and El is here, and he's good. But he doesn't say that out loud, just watches as she bustles after Hopper and Dustin returns to the friends group, looking as if he's swallowing back tears. Mike reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, gives it a short squeeze, and Dustin shoots him an embarrassed but still thankful look.

Mrs. Byers then makes good on the idea of everyone getting some rest. There's a short conflict when she tries to get the girls to take one of her sons' rooms. Max argues loudly that she wants to stay, she won't stay with Eleven who she doesn't really know, and besides, they're just going to sleep, it's just stupid. El doesn't argue, she simply says: “No.” and then, “I'm staying with Mike.” It makes him blush, and Dustin and Lucas are elbowing each other and snickering until he glares at them. Finally, Mrs. Byers gives up but she's less lenient about Will staying with them, and Will gives in when she looks at him pleadingly, saying: “I just need to have you close by, baby, or I won't be able to close my eyes tonight.”

“Okay, Mom,” he says and lets her take him into her bedroom while Jonathan drags two mattresses into the living room and pulls out any spare cushions and blankets they have.

Mike and El wind up on one of the mattresses, Lucas, Max and Dustin on the other, and Jonathan turns the lights off and disappears into his own bedroom. For a bit, Mike just lays there, reveling in the knowledge that _all_ of his friends are here and safe, even her, and he reaches out in the dark and links his fingers with hers. “I'm so glad you're back,” he whispers and feels her squeeze his hand. “Me too,” she murmurs, and he drifts off to sleep holding her hand.

***

Mike doesn't know what wakes him up but when he opens his eyes, it is still dark. He knows it was pretty late when they went to bed, so shouldn't it be morning by now? Maybe what had woken him was Hopper and Nancy coming back – with or without Steve? He listens but there are no sounds outside of a car being parked – just the wind rattling the piece of cardboard they had used to cover the window El had thrown the demodog through.

He is almost falling back asleep when there's another sound, this one sounding like a whimper, coming from the other mattress – he can't tell who it was but someone is shifting over there slightly. Then everything is quiet again. Maybe a nightmare? They're all no strangers to nightmares since last year, and he guesses it wouldn't be a surprise if Max did share this dubious honour with them, too, after today.

There's another sound. This one sounds … wet, like a gurgling, choking noise, and Mike sits up and peers over at the others as well as he can in the dark – which isn't all that good, all things considered. “Hey guys, you okay?” he asks into the sleepy silence because something about that sound makes worry pool in his gut like acid.

“Hmm, whassat, Mike?” Lucas asks, halfway coherent. El's answer is a soft “Mike?” Max mumbles something that he doesn't understand but he can hear her clearly enough. And then there is a sharp, stinging smell invading his nostrils that he recognises after a moment. It smells like vomit. And he didn't hear Dustin say anything.

There's another of these choking sounds, and this time, he feels panic slam into him. “Lucas, turn on the light!” he shouts but it's El who does it – he knows because he feels her shift a bit next to him, and then the living room is flooded with light before Lucas can even get up. Mike blinks a few times against the sting of the light in his eyes and then looks over at his friends. At Dustin who is laying next to Lucas and who looks as if he's still asleep. Except that he's pale, paler than he was when they went to bed, and there are a few bubbles of spit and vomit at the corner of his mouth and a narrow trail of it running down his cheek.

They all sit frozen for a moment, a minute, a century, and then chaos breaks loose. They're shouting Dustin's name, all of them, and Lucas grabs his shoulders and is shaking him. God, his head is lolling like Steve's did when they loaded him into the car. The door bursts open, and Jonathan comes charging in, holding the rifle Nancy had had earlier. “What is it, what is happening?” he shouts but then sees the kids clustered around Dustin and runs over to them, dropping the rifle and reaching out for Dustin. He turns his head to shout “Mom – Mom!”, then looks back at the younger teenagers around him, his eyes blown wide with a different kind of horror. “Lucas, let go,” he orders, and Lucas reluctantly does. “What happened?”

“I don't, I don't know,” Mike says, his lips feeling strangely numb, “he must have started throwing up in his sleep but he didn't wake up. Why isn't he waking up, Jonathan?!”

Jonathan doesn't answer, his attention on Dustin – he is turning him onto his side until the trickle of vomit becomes a stream as it flows from Dustin's mouth. But he's still not moving, and his lips are tinged blue, and Mike feels like he is the one suffocating. Mrs. Byers runs in and stops a few steps away from them, her hands going to her mouth as she takes in the scene. Then she falls down on her knees next to Jonathan who is turning Dustin back onto his back and bows his head over his face, listening, and then pressing two fingers to his throat. “Pulse is there,” he says, and Mike is so thankful that Jonathan seems to know what he's doing that he's bursting with it, “but--” he glances at the kids around him and drops his voice as if he doesn't want them to hear but they're crowded so close around them that they hear him anyway, “he's not breathing.”

“No!” Mike hears Lucas shout, and El grabs Mike's hand and squeezes it hard enough to hurt. “Dustin?!” she says, sounding so lost that it would hurt if he could feel anything other than the overwhelming terror of those three words.

“Okay,” Mrs. Byers says, with a strange business-like tone as she moves around to kneel on the other side of Dustin's head, heedless of the vomit pooling there and soaking into her jeans. “Keep checking his pulse and tell me if something changes. Be ready to start compression.” Jonathan nods as if he knows what she's talking about while Mike knows he has heard those terms at one point, in those medical dramas his Gran used to watch all the time, probably, but right now his mind is empty with only one thought in it – _Dustin isn't breathing, Dustin isn't breathing, Dustin isn't breathing_. Mrs. Byers tilts Dustin's head upwards, pinching his nose closed with one hand, and starts blowing air into his mouth. Mike stares at her, transfixed, until someone is bumping into him and he tears his eyes away for a moment to find Will pushing into the circle of kids, his eyes huge as he looks at his mom and Dustin's still face beneath her. Mike puts an arm around his shoulders and pulls him close, and they watch and wait, terrified, while Mrs. Byers is trying to breathe for Dustin, while Jonathan has a hand on his neck, feeling for his pulse, ready to spring into action any moment, and it seems as if time has all but stopped.

When Mrs. Byers pulls back once again to take a deep breath herself, Dustin jerks slightly, a weak cough coming out of his mouth. She leans forward again, her ear over his face, and places a hand on his chest, too. Mike thinks when he looks at her hand very, very closely, he can see it moving but he isn't sure. _He isn't sure._

She straightens and runs a shaking hand through her hair. “Turn him on his side,” she tells Jonathan who quickly complies.

“Is-- Is he okay?” Mike asks, his voice shaking. She turns to look at him and hesitates for what might only be a second but what feels like an eternity. “He's-- he'll be okay, honey,” she assures him, and he knows he can trust her, he knows that, but it still doesn't do much to dispel the terror because she doesn't sound sure enough, and _Dustin hadn't been breathing_.

“I'll get the car started. You carry him,” she says to Jonathan, and then she's gone, and Jonathan is gathering Dustin up in his arms carefully.

“What – where are you taking him?” Lucas asks. Jonathan just says, “Hospital”, and gets up. Max and Lucas scramble to get out of his way, and then they're all trailing behind him as he carries Dustin out of the house. It's only when he slides into the back of his mom's car that Mike realises they're going to leave them here, and he shoots forward. “You can't just leave us here,” he protests, “let us come!”

Mrs. Byers leans out of the driver's side window and shakes her head. “I'm sorry, sweetheart, but we can't. Jonathan needs to be able to concentrate on Dustin and me on the road. I'm sorry. I'll send Jonathan back to get you once we're there, okay? We're taking good care of him, I promise. Take care,” she says, speaking quickly and not giving him a chance to say anything. She gives all of them a shaky smile. “It'll be okay,” she promises, and then she presses the accelerator, and they are left standing in front of the Byers' house, and Dustin is gone.

***

Mike barely remembers how he got inside again. They end up on the couch, him in the middle and Will and Lucas next to him on both sides. The girls are sitting perched on the arm rests, as if in quiet understanding that Dustin was the boys' friend first, so they need to be close to each other right now.

He is feeling strangely abandoned, even though he had been thinking that he didn't need anyone to take care of him just a few hours ago. Right now, he really wishes Nancy was here, or Mrs. Byers or Jonathan – hell, he'd even take Steve Harrington or Hopper, even if those two probably wouldn't be giving him a hug that he somehow really wants right now. But the thought makes him feel guilty because damn it, Nancy and Hopper need to take care of Steve who had been hurt protecting Lucas, and Jonathan and Mrs. Byers are taking care of Dustin _who hadn't been breathing_ , and here he is, whining – if only inside his head – about wanting someone older than him to be around and give him a hug and tell him it would be okay.

He sags forward, burying his head in his hands. He still doesn't know how it even happened, why Dustin had started throwing up in his sleep but didn't wake up – but then he remembers how they had rescued Hopper from the tunnels. He had been taken away by the lab people to be cleaned up and treated but Mike had heard him telling Mrs. Byers when he got back – _“I'm fine, Joyce, just threw up everything I ate yesterday, hell, all week probably”_. And when they had been down in the tunnels, Dustin had been sprayed in the face by one of the strange bulbs down there … But Hopper had been down there much longer than Dustin, and he was fine, and they had had the masks and goggles … But Hopper was also about twice Dustin's size …

And he had forgotten about it. It had been a brief moment of panic, and then Dustin had said he was okay. And he had forgotten about it. There was so much to worry about, El, Will, even Steve. It had simply slipped his mind. But Dustin had said he was okay, right? Right?!

Except he wasn't, and none of them had thought of telling anyone, and then Dustin had thrown up in his sleep and hadn't woken up and _hadn't been breathing …_

He's dimly aware that his hands are grasping his hair hard enough to hurt, and his throat is working around a sound that might be a sob. There are hands touching his shoulder and back, and there are voices around him, muffled as if he's got water in his ears. What finally breaks through is when El places a hand on his knee and reaches out to touch his face with the other, saying softly: “Mike?” He somehow manages to raise his head, and she is kneeling in front of him, her face drawn tight with worry, Max hovering by her shoulder. He guesses that means that the hands on his shoulder and back belong to Lucas and Will. “Are you okay?” she asks.

He wants to nod, say something, tell her he is okay, because he is okay, he needs to be okay. But he shakes his head instead, and what's coming out of his mouth is: “It's my fault.”

There is a shout of protest – Lucas, he thinks – and El shakes her head decisively but he presses on: “I've forgotten that he swallowed that stuff down in the tunnels, and I knew it had made Hopper sick, and I should have told someone, anyone, that this bulb thing had sprayed him in the face, and it was my idea to go down there because all I could think of was helping you, and Dustin even managed to get Dart to let us through and almost got eaten by the demodogs, and I completely forgot about that stuff, and--” The sob that has been building up in his throat finally bursts forth, and he screws his eyes shut tight. It doesn't keep the tears from spilling over, though. “And now he's got sick in his sleep and _wasn't breathing_ , and _it's all my fault!_ ”

“Don't be stupid, man,” Lucas says harshly, and he flinches. “You know we all wanted to help El, Dustin, too, and it was kinda even his idea since he remembered that thing with the hive mind, and--” He stops, blows a breath through his nose and gives Mike's shoulder a light shove. “Doesn't matter, anyway. It's not your fault, and blaming yourself won't help anyone.”

“Yeah,” Will chimes in, his voice gentle, and Mike turns his head to see him looking at him with large, concerned eyes, “please don't do that to yourself. Dustin wouldn't want you to, you know that.”

“But--” he tries to protest but he actually has no idea what he wants to say, and he just ends up sniffling and not saying anything at all.

There's a slim pale hand reaching for his wrist, over El's hand which has taken his when he had let go of his hair, and Max sits down next to her on the floor. “If it's any help,” she says, and it's the softest he's ever heard her talking, “I get it. Because if I hadn't been here, if I didn't have a step-brother that's such a _shitstain_ \--” she shakes her head, red hair flying, “he wouldn't have attacked Lucas, and Steve wouldn't have been hurt.” Lucas is starting to object but she waves him off. “So I get it. But it doesn't help, so … Just don't, okay?”

El isn't joining in on their reassurances but she's sitting in front of him, just looking at him with those dark, dark eyes and holding his hand, and it helps him calm down just as much as their words. It takes him a bit but he finally wipes away the tears and just sits, feeling all of them around him, and it's a relief to know that they don't blame him. He's not sure he's stopped blaming himself but at least the overwhelming pressure of his guilt has lifted somewhat.

They're quiet, all of them, exhausted and sore and emotionally overwhelmed, and the silence stretches and engulfs them until Mike loses all sense of time. He couldn't say if it's a few minutes or an hour when the sound of tires on gravel makes all of them look up. Lucas jumps up and looks out of the window. “It's Jonathan,” he calls, and they all scramble to their feet. They're out on the porch by the time he comes up to it, and he gives them a tired smile.

“Is Dustin okay?” Mike asks, his throat feeling so tight again that he has to force the words out, because what if Jonathan says no, what if …? Suddenly, not knowing seems to be the preferable alternative.

“Yeah,” Jonathan says with a nod, and there's an audible rush of relief going through the group, “I mean, they took him in for treatment, and I didn't wait to hear what the doctor has to say because I wanted to come get you guys. But we got him there, and they're taking good care of him.”

He waves to them to follow to his car, and they squeeze into it. The drive to the hospital is quiet and tense, and none of them wait for Jonathan to park the car when he lets them out at the entrance but rush inside.

Will sees his mother first, and he runs over to her. “Mom!” Mike is hot on his heels, and so are the others. “Where is Dustin? Is he okay? What did the doctor say?” They're all speaking over each other, and it takes Hopper who is sitting with Mrs. Byers saying sharply: “Hey!” to get them to shut up enough for her to actually answer their questions.

“He's fine, sweeties, don't worry. They're keeping him here for a bit to give him oxygen and make sure he doesn't get sick again but he'll be just fine,” she says, smiling at them.

Hopper, meanwhile, narrows his eyes at El. “What are you doing here?” he demands. She looks back at him, unflinching, and just says: “To see Dustin.” The Chief glances at the hospital workers and people milling around, and Mike remembers the altercation when El had appeared. He takes El's hand and glares at him. This is about Dustin, the second friend El ever made, the second person to trust her and see her for what she is, a girl their age, mind powers notwithstanding. Hopper may want to protect her but he can't take this from her.

Hopper glances at Mrs. Byers, then takes a deep breath, scrubbing his hand over his face. He lets it drop back into his lap and finally says: “Yeah, okay. But after that, we're going back to the cabin, you hear me?”

El holds his gaze a bit longer, then nods, apparently satisfied. “Can we go see him?” Lucas asks, impatiently. Mrs. Byers nods, getting to her feet. “His mom is with him but I'll ask if it's okay if you come in,” she says. Before she can start leading them away, though, Mike holds up a hand to stop her.

“Chief – Mrs. Byers,” he says earnestly if a bit rushed, keeping his voice low to prevent the people around them from hearing, “Dustin got sprayed in the face by one of those bulb things while we were down there.” He feels a new wave of guilt rush through him but pushes the feeling away. If he didn't do enough to help Dustin before, the least he can do now is make sure that Hopper and Mrs. Byers know what's going on so they can prevent anything else happening. “He said he was okay but I think that's what made him sick, like you were after Mrs. Byers and Bob got you out of the tunnels,” he explains, looking at Hopper. “I-- I forgot to tell you when we got back because there was so much going on ...” His voice stutters and almost fails on the last few words.

The Chief scratches his beard thoughtfully. “Yeah, that might have been it,” he agrees. “Thanks for telling us, kid.” He doesn't scold him for not doing so earlier, and Mike feels almost disappointed at that, as if it could ease his guilt somehow if he had to pay for his forgetfulness. “Obviously, not something we can tell the doctors here,” Hopper continues, sharing a look with Mrs. Byers, “but we'll keep an eye on it and everything. Don't worry, okay?” He puts a hand on Mike's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Mike doesn't know what to feel about this man, the one who hid El and lied to them for a whole year but who also held him, apologising repeatedly, when anger turned to pain and he was crying out almost a year of heartbreak, and who went with El and brought her back safely from closing the gate. It might take him a while to sort all of that out, but he knows, at least, that he trusts Hopper enough to believe he's really trying to protect all of them. He nods, then steps back, avoiding everyone's eyes.

Max uses this moment to ask: “What about Steve? Is he okay?” Hopper startles a bit, turning to her, and says: “Oh, yeah, he's okay. Well, he's got a concussion, some stitches, a broken nose, not to mention all those bruises, but nothing that won't heal. Nancy is with him.” Max smiles at him, relieved, then follows as Mrs. Byers beckons for them to come along.

She makes them wait outside the room as she disappears inside; they hear her say: “Claudia?” and then some back and forth between her and Mrs. Henderson, until she pops her head into the corridor again and waves them forward.

They're all a bit hesitant as they shuffle into the room. It's not that Mike doesn't like Mrs. Henderson, Dustin's mom is lovely (if a bit too much at times) – but she doesn't know about everything, and now her son is in the hospital, and they can't really tell her what happened. He briefly thinks that they should have asked Hopper and Mrs. Byers what they have told her so none of them can slip up. But then he steps into the room and walks up to the bed and forgets about that.

Dustin is still very pale, and there is a breathing mask strapped over his mouth and nose, emitting faint hissing sounds every other second. His mom is sitting at the side of his bed, holding his hand and looking slightly disheveled. She smiles sweetly at the group of kids, nevertheless, and greets them: “Hi, kids.”

There's a general chorus of “Hi.” and “Good morning.” and “Hello, Mrs. Henderson.”. They surround the bed, and Dustin smiles at them through the breathing mask. He raises his hand to take it off but his mom is quick to intercept him. 

“No, Dusty,” she says severely, “you know the doctor said you need to keep that on. And no talking!”

Dustin mumbles a muffled “Mom!”.

Mike smiles even if it still feels a bit forced. “It's okay, Henderson – you can talk our ears off again tomorrow or so,” he says, patting his friend's shoulder. Lucas is quick to join in: “Yeah, we never get you to shut up otherwise, so it'll be a nice break.” He grins at him mischievously.

Dustin rolls his eyes – if his mom wasn't right there, he might have flipped them off, but as it is, eye rolling is all he can do. Still, seeing him react so normally to their teasing makes the fear and guilt that has been tying Mike's stomach into knots ease up.

“Hey,” he says more softly, “I'm really glad you're okay.” The others rush to chime in, the relief and exhaustion after the last few hours or days spilling over, and there is a lot of hugging Dustin – “Careful, boys,” his mom reprimands them gently – and touching his arm and holding his hand which Mike is sure Lucas, Will and him and possibly Max would be very embarrassed about at any other time. But it's not any other time, and right now they need that tangible reminder of him being close and safe and okay.

They stay a bit longer, talking to Dustin even if he can't really answer (and looks as if it's killing him at times to keep back a very good quip) and carefully avoiding to talk about the events of the last days with Mrs. Henderson there, until Mike notices El's shoulders beginning to droop with exhaustion, and Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Byers insist that Dustin needs to rest and so do the rest of them. They might be right because Mike knows he feels absolutely beat. But at the same time, he feels as if a huge burden has been taken off him as he walks out of the room, holding El's hand.

El is back, and she is okay, Will is himself again, and he is okay, and Dustin will be okay, and so will Steve. They will all be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Gosh, I love Dustin so much, he's my favourite ST character!  
> Also me: *continues to write stories from everyone's POV but Dustin's*
> 
> I was rewatching the episode where Hopper was stuck in the tunnels, and after he was sprayed in the face, he was decidedly *not*okay, so I started to wonder if there might be repercussions for Dustin ... So here we are.  
> Apologies to my beta for asking for medical advice and subsequently ignoring some of it for drama's sake :D. I blame Upside-Down shenanigans!
> 
> I really need to write a fic in which Dustin is simply having a good time ...


End file.
